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May
Keane Duncan launches Tory leadership challenge
Former highways chief Keane Duncan is to challenge Carl Les for the leadership of the Conservative party in North Yorkshire.
Councillor Duncan, who resigned his highways role a year ago amid a falling out with Cllr Les but remains a councillor, has been nominated for the leader’s role,
It means the 42 Tory councillors will vote on who to elect as leader at the North Yorkshire Conservative Party’s AGM on Wednesday (May 6).
Cllr Duncan said:
I can confirm I have been nominated by colleagues for the role of leader of the Conservative group and I look forward to making my positive case at the AGM.
Cllr Carl Les
'I am planning to continue'
Under party rules, the leader can be challenged every year.
Cllr Les’ deputy Cllr Gareth Dadd announced today he will step down after the next North Yorkshire Council elections on May 7, 2027.
Asked if he intended to stay on, Cllr Les said:
“I am planning to continue but that will be up to my group who have to appoint a group leader every year.”
When we then asked if he wanted to continue after next year’s elections, Cllr Les — who at 75 is more than twice the age of 31-year-old Cllr Duncan — said:
“There is an election to fight first, who knows what the results may be.”
The Conservatives have controlled North Yorkshire Council since it was created in 2023.
However, the administration is propped up by three Independents, including Ripon Minster and Moorside Cllr Andrew Williams, whose support gives the ruling Conservatives and independents group 45 of 90 seats.
The electoral boundaries for North Yorkshire were recently revised, and voters will go to the polls on May 7 next year.
With the administration entering its final year of five, manoeuvrings for seats and positions is expected to intensify in the months ahead.
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